


One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

by cody_eja



Series: Robin x Cordelia Collection [5]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, they are dumb idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:27:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27287164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cody_eja/pseuds/cody_eja
Summary: Cordelia has a word with her commander about a certain dark mage who's been up to no good.
Relationships: My Unit | Reflet | Robin/Tiamo | Cordelia
Series: Robin x Cordelia Collection [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642909
Comments: 7
Kudos: 15





	One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BrandedKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrandedKing/gifts).



> this was supposed to be a birthday fic but im 2 weeks late
> 
> sorry buddy

Cordelia was trying to ignore it. She was  _ really _ trying to ignore it, but the cold gaze she felt burning into the back of her head was unmistakable. It had been a few weeks since the Exalt’s death, and Cordelia still hadn’t gotten used to the dark presence that lingered every morning when she got up to train.

She wasn’t stupid, of course. She knew exactly who was watching her. Cordelia still wasn’t quite sure what went through Chrom’s mind (if anything at all) when he decided to recruit a Plegian dark mage, but it really wasn’t her place to complain. 

That being said, Tharja’s presence at every single one of Cordelia’s training sessions was starting to become very annoying. Early morning practice required a sharp focus, and, frankly, she didn’t really trust Tharja enough to let her guard down for such a long period of time. She gave a sigh, let her javelin fall to the ground, and turned towards the ‘hiding spot,’ a tree nearby the armory tent.

“What exactly do you want from me?”

Sure enough, a shadowing figure emerged from behind the tree, chuckling darkly. “Heh, heh. So you finally noticed me.”

Cordelia resisted the urge to slap the palm of her hand into her face. “I’ve always known you were there Tharja, but it’s starting to get quite annoying.”

Her eyebrows scrunched together in thought and murmured to herself. “Fascinating. Perhaps you’ll be adequate competition after all…”

“Adequate competition? What exactly are we competing for?” Cordelia was certainly confused now. 

Tharja’s expression darkened into a snarl. “Well, you’re trying to take my dear Robin away from me, of course.” Her tone had a bite to it that sent shivers down Cordelia’s spine.

Wait, what?

“I’m trying to take your dear what now?” She couldn’t have possibly heard her right. There was no way she had just said that.

Tharja continued as if Cordelia had said nothing at all. “Don’t think I haven’t seen the hungry looks you’ve been giving him. You’re out to take him away from me, and I won’t allow it.”

For a few moments, Cordelia was silent, completely awestruck at her current situation. 

“...You and Robin are… together?” This news was a shock to her. She had no idea Robin’s preferences lay in… whatever Tharja was, and as much as she tried to control it, Cordelia couldn’t help but feel a sharp pain in her gut. She’d always known Robin likely wasn’t interested in her, but the physical confirmation of the fact hurt more than she could have predicted. 

Well, it hurt until Tharja’s response came. “Not yet, of course. He’s quite the slippery catch. But mark my words, woman. I will not let you take him away from me. Robin belongs to  _ me _ , understand?”

Cordelia couldn’t hold back the seething rage that burst up inside her. “Robin does not belong to you, he belongs to m–”

She cut herself off before the thought could finish itself. Oh Naga above, this was bad. Who knew what Tharja would do with this embarrassing piece of information. H-had anyone been nearby who might have heard? Had  _ Robin _ heard his own name and come to see what was happening?

“Ahem. He belongs to nobody.” She corrected herself hastily. As much as she would have liked the tactician having… interest in her, it wasn’t the truth and Cordelia couldn’t get in the way of any happiness he may find in a romance. 

She took a few deep breaths to recompose herself, and with a “I must speak to Lord Chrom about military matters,” she turned and fled the scene.

It wasn’t a  _ lie _ , per se. She really was going to see Chrom about something important.

Just because she would willingly step aside for a woman if it meant Robin’s happiness didn’t mean she was going to let  _ Tharja _ be that woman. 

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Robin made his way through the camp towards Chrom’s tent to discuss some marching routes on the way to the final battle with Gangrel. Weirdly enough, he’d gotten a couple weird looks from a few of the other Shepherds, though a quick inspection of himself showed that nothing was out of place. He disregarded it as some silly rumor Lissa spread as a prank and continued on his way.

He was about to open the flap and let himself in when he heard voices inside. One was Chrom’s, of course, that made sense. But the other was one Robin knew all too well. How could he not? It was the one that haunted all his dreams as of late. 

Well, she was also one of his best friends, second only to Chrom himself– but that didn’t sound nearly as dramatic.

Robin frowned to himself. What reason did Cordelia have to talk to Chrom? To his knowledge, there wasn’t anything they needed to discuss. She’d insisted on attending nearly all of the tactics meetings since her recruitment into the Shepherds. It was certainly in character for her, with all her perfectionism and dedication, but Robin suspected she really just wanted an excuse to be near–

Ah, right. That made sense. Why he hadn’t immediately jumped to her deep infatuation with his best friend as reason enough was beyond him. It probably had something to do with Robin’s insistence of forcing that bit of information into the depths of his mind, where it couldn’t make him feel miserable constantly. 

Normally, a piece of information like that would be harmless to someone, maybe even a bit funny. But to Robin, who happened to have his own completely hopeless infatuation with  _ Cordelia _ , it only served as another metaphorical knife in his chest. Of course she’d visited Chrom in his tent. It only made sense that someone would want to spend as much time as possible with the person they loved, especially with the battle looming on the horizon. Knowing that their next battle would be the most decisive in the whole war had probably spurred a bout of confidence in Cordelia. Who wouldn’t do that?

Well,  _ Robin  _ wouldn’t. In fact, he’d done pretty much the opposite, finding excuses to switch his schedule around to see as little of her as possible throughout the day. He loved spending time with Cordelia, but every moment spent in her presence felt like an eternity of suffering. Being with the person you loved and being with the person you loved when you knew they didn’t feel the same way were two completely different situations.

Unfortunately, Robin had somehow found himself in the latter. That mixed with his tendency to wallow in self hatred didn’t really mix well and– oh Naga, he had been standing still in front of Chrom’s tent this whole time.

He steeled himself and entered before some person saw him passing by and thought he was eavesdropping– which, to be fair, it definitely looked like he was doing. 

“Oh, Robin, good timing. Can you  _ please _ tell Cordelia she’s wrong and I’m right?”

After a brief moment of Cordelia just staring at him in surprise (Very odd, considering how collected she usually was. Maybe Chrom’s mere proximity was throwing her off?), her expression returned to one of annoyance. “I am not– you know what? Robin, why don’t you tell  _ Chrom _ that  _ he’s _ wrong and  _ I’m _ right.”

He blinked. That was certainly not what he was expecting. Had he been so far off in his own mind that he failed to notice they’d been arguing that whole time? “Uh. You’re going to need to tell me the actual issue here first.”

Chrom gave a frustrated sigh. “Cordelia here insists that one of our recent recruits is causing more harm than good here in camp, but–”

She cut him off with a glare. “She  _ is _ . Interrupting my training is one thing, but having plans to  _ claim _ our lead tactician could be detrimental to our success! She certainly doesn’t have our best interests as top priority.”

“So you’re telling me... this heated argument between two of the most important Shepherds is happening because of  _ Tharja _ ?”

Chrom sighed again. “Yes, apparently. Now can you please tell this madwoman we can’t just discharge Tharja from the Shepherds like that?”

A pause. Cordelia wanted Tharja discharged from the Shepherds? Well, he had to admit, she certainly wasn’t a very benevolent person, not to mention her weird tendency to stalk him… 

“...I think I’m actually with Cordelia on this one.”

The woman in question shot him a grateful look. “ _ Thank you _ . Sorry, Milord, but we’ve got you outnumbered on this one.”

Chrom gave a snort of disbelief. “Robin, she’s a powerful dark mage. Casting her out would only pit her against us. We’ve got enough to deal with as it is.”

He had a pretty valid point. As much of a pain as she was, having Tharja fighting against them wasn’t really a better situation. Unless...

“...We could put her in prison.”

Chrom gave him a deadpan stare. “Robin, that’s… not how the law works. You can’t just throw someone in prison because you don’t want to deal with them. You throw someone in prison because they  _ committed a crime _ .”

Before Robin could defend himself, Cordelia chimed in. “You say that as if she hasn’t committed  _ numerous _ crimes. We have every right to incarcerate her.” 

He seemed to ponder that for a second. “That’s not… wholly unreasonable, but it’d be setting a double standard. The Shepherds are supposed to be welcoming to people of all backgrounds. With this logic, we’d have to put Robin and Gaius in with her.”

That was actually… a fairly good point. And, well, Robin would rather be free and have to deal with Tharja than be in a jail cell with her.

Cordelia rose to protest once more, but Robin cut her off. “He’s right, Cordy. We need to just deal with her.” 

Robin had expected her to back down, now that the topic had been all but settled, but, to his surprise, she continued to object.

“No! I refuse to back down on this! Either she goes, or I go.”

Why did she care about this so much? Usually Cordelia was a fairly reasonable woman. This was very out of character for her, to say the least.

Robin looked to Chrom for help. To his credit, he seemed to be thinking about  _ something _ quite intently, but he didn’t speak up. 

Cordelia was still looking at Robin expectedly. What did she want from him? He desperately tried to come up with something, but it was… difficult, to say the least, when she was staring at him like that. He could feel his heart rate start to pick up speed, and–  _ now was not the time for this _ .

“What… Why is this so important to you? Chrom is right. Besides, we can’t afford distractions like this right now. You should be focused on preparing for the battle.”

Her gaze turned vitriolic, and it took everything in Robin’s power to maintain eye contact. “I don’t like that she’s accosting you like this. She clearly doesn’t have good intentions, and I can’t just stand by and let her… kidnap you, or something.”

Being the brilliant tactician that he was, Robin fired back with a witty response.

“Uh….”

He still wasn’t really over the fact that they trusted him with battle plans.

“You… you’re one of my closest friends! Is it that hard to believe that I’d care about your wellbeing?”

That was… a response. Robin blinked, not entirely prepared for an answer so emotionally charged. A warm, soothing feeling ran up his spine.  _ She cares about me... _

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Chrom start to snicker. Only then, did Robin realize he was grinning like an absolute buffoon. He quickly wiped the expression off his face and prayed to Naga– fuck, he’d even take a blessing from Grima at this point– that she hadn’t noticed.

Chrom, who had somehow managed to become the logical voice of reason in this argument, interjected once he’d had his fill of watching Robin flounder around helplessly. “Look Cordelia, I’m not saying we should just let her do anything she wants, but we’re definitely not kicking her out. The battle with Gangrel is just on the horizon, so it’s not like we have to put up with her much longer.”

At that, she finally backed down, albeit very reluctantly. “Fine. But I reserve all rights to say ‘I told you so’ when something goes wrong.”

While touched by Cordelia’s concern for his well-being, Robin couldn’t help but be a little hurt that she thought so little of his own capabilities. Did she really think he couldn’t take care of himself? He frowned. Well, of course she did. Sure, his strategies were vital to the Shepherds’ success, but he definitely wasn’t the most capable fighter. His magic skills were a far cry from those of Ricken, Miriel, or even Tharja herself, and his swordsmanship was roughly the same level– if not worse.

On the other hand, Cordelia was probably the most valuable fighter the Shepherds had. Yeah, maybe Robin was a little biased, being in love with her and all, but from a strategic standpoint, her incredible skill with the lance and mobility of her pegasus essentially made her his ace in the hole. What was he when compared to that?

“Robin? Are you coming?”

Shit, he’d zoned out again. Coming out of his reverie, Robin quickly realized the meeting was basically over and Cordelia was waiting for him, holding the tent flap open expectedly. He got to his feet and walked over, doing his best to ignore the knowing gaze Chrom was inevitably giving him. 

They walked silently to the mess hall; He knew it was her lunch time, and she knew it was his. Robin internally cringed at how well they knew each others’ schedules– it just felt like such an…  _ intimate _ thing to share with someone. In an attempt to distract himself from his cliche, pathetic, unrequited pining, he spoke up.

“Did you really mean all that?”

Cordelia looked at him in confusion. “...All what?”

He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. “You know, how you care about me and stuff.”

At that, she frowned. “Of course. I… care about you a lot, Robin. You’re very important to me.”

Ok, so maybe that wasn’t the best distraction. If anything, that had just amplified all his feelings by a factor of ten. Robin did his best to quash down the glimmer of hope that had flared up. Did she really not realize what that sounded like?

“Er, yeah. I care about you a lot too, Cordy. I, uh– you’re a really great friend.” He gave an earnest smile in an attempt to show her he was being sincere.

Instead, a flash of something unrecognizable crossed her expression, but was gone as soon as it arrived, replaced by a very convincing fake smile. If he were anyone else, Robin might not have noticed her false enthusiasm. 

“Of course. Ah– I think Sumia’s waiting for me in our tent, so I should get going. I’ll, um, see you around.” And just like that, Cordelia turned and all but ran away.

Robin blinked. Had… had he said something wrong? Or, maybe, she’d seen through his mask, just as he’d seen through hers, and found the hidden truth behind his words. A chill ran up his spine as he realized what had just happened. She’d finally figured it out, and couldn’t bear to be near him anymore. He’d slipped, shown a little too much of his heart, and now everything was ruined. 

Fuck.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> been a while since ive uploaded huh. i hope it was worth the wait (it wasnt)
> 
> anyway happy not-birthday branded


End file.
